Two miles in less than fifteen minutes. That is the goal for male recruits in the Army ROTC.
With such requirements it is hard to imagine that any member of the program would have weight issues.
Nevertheless, The New York Times recently reported that this is one of the most pressing concerns for the military today.
The Times reported the percent of potential recruits who failed physical examinations rose from 4 percent to 20 percent from 2000 to 2006.
Maj. Kevin Fracassa, a recruitment and enrollment officer at the University, said weight issues for recruits were not a problem for the program here in Athens.
“In many of the people that pursue our program and those that we pursue, our criteria is to have someone who has been involved in athletics and is also a scholar and a leader,” he said.
However, these criteria do not always guarantee recruits will be in top shape.
Andrew Chang, cadet recruiting operations officer, said he had problems with his weight when he first started the ROTC program at the University.
“I was a scholar athlete, but I gained weight. The typical freshman 50,” he said.
Zach Layman, a former participant of the Army ROTC program, said the weight issues did not affect the older recruits as much.
“There were probably new recruits that were [overweight], but most guys were in pretty good shape especially conditioning wise,” he said.
Read the full story at the Georgia Red & Black.
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